Figure-Ground Composition

The fundamental characteristic of perception is based on the distinction between figure and ground, the object that stands out from the background. The brain tries to separate forms from their flat or spatial surroundings and to understand them. The perceptual effect is clearly visible in tilt pictures. These pictures are known as pictorial representations in which the figure-ground relationship can be reversed in perception.

Nine individual compositions, consisting of only two letters and two colours, result in such a tilting picture.